Ways to Spark Innovation at Your Company

Businesses are founded on innovation – providing a good or service that meets people’s needs in a new and exciting way. Unfortunately, after experiencing success, many businesses are hesitant to incorporate new ideas and stagnate, forgetting that innovation is what made them successful in the first place.

Innovation can provide the competitive edge your business needs to thrive in today’s market and outshine your competition. Below are some ways that you can spark innovation at your company and help your business continue to move forward.

1. Don’t task just a few people with innovating
   One mistake that many businesses make is designating a few select employees with innovating. While “think tanks” used to be the preferred method of creating new ideas, modern businesses understand that good ideas can come from anywhere. By encouraging everyone in the company to come up with new ideas – as well as taking the time to listen to them – an innovative work environment can be created.
   
   
2. Innovation doesn’t have to be concrete
   Innovation doesn’t have to mean coming up with a new or revolutionary product or service. Instead, innovating can also take the form of strategic, administrative, or field-level innovations. Creating new company values, changing internal systems, or finding better ways to meet customer’s needs, are all small steps that can lead to big changes in your business.
   
   
3. Dream big
   Most technology that we now use on a day-to-day basis was once considered fantastical. Even if an idea seems too far-fetched to have real world applications, encourage your employees to be big thinkers. Remember: the words “fantasy” and “fantastic” share the same root, meaning “to use the imagination”.
   
   
4. Use data to drive innovation
   Modern companies understand the importance of data analytics. However, few are fully using the amount of data they collect to its full advantage. Oftentimes, the keys to innovation may be presenting themselves in the data you’ve already collected.
   
   
5. Don’t be afraid to try new things
   Progress is made by trial and error. If you are too afraid to implement new ideas, there is no way that innovation can take root. Instead of punishing failure, encourage employees to take risks and try new strategies. Then, discard those ideas that don’t work while implementing those that do.